


It Was Always You, Terra

by silveradept



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: F/F, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 01:43:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Many years afterward, Celes is singing and Mama Terra has a worldwide network of orphans to look after. An opportunity at a fundraiser offers Celes a chance to be clear about her feelings.





	It Was Always You, Terra

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eida/gifts).



A parade of well-dressed nobles paraded by Celes as she tried to find a place to stand in the increasingly-cramped gambling space on board the Falcon. Setzer could never give up gambling, she knew, but he had at least enough sense to make sure that he wasn't the person in charge of running the airborne casino. He'd given that to the "treasure hunter." Which, she had to admit, had turned out pretty well - Locke's intense desire for wealth and gold meant he knew how to squeeze every piece he could out of anyone who came when the ship touched down in a port for a week.

A flash of green hair made Celes smile. That Locke was also absolutely smitten with Terra, even though he would never admit it to anyone, meant that when she sent a letter asking for more gold to keep the orphans of Mobliz fed and housed, Locke had organized a series of charity events meant to make sure all the orphaned children on the planet would be able to get food and a warm bed.

Celes wasn't sure if Terra had any feelings at all for Locke, but Celes figured Terra wasn't going to disappoint a big source of gold by actually saying anything on the subject. Terra cared too much for the children to let that happen. And, perhaps conveniently, the children always kept her busy.

Terra smiled at her, then recognizing her, came over and gave Celes a giant hug. "Celes!" she exclaimed. "It's so nice to see you again! How have you been?"

Celes shrugged. "Singing for the gamblers, mostly. Not much work for an ex-Imperial General these days. At least the runes are gone. Makes me less immediately recognizable."

"Are you singing tonight? Did you meet Maria, finally? Do people get weird with you? How can anyone move in this space?" Terra squeezed Celes more tightly after being bumped by another passing throng of eager fortune-seekers.

"Slow down," Celes said, slightly short of breath. "Let's go back to my room, and we can talk." Taking Terra's hand firmly, Celes shouldered her way through the remaining distance to the space where she had her room, well away from the gambling floor.

Celes made sure they both had something to drink before sitting. "It was Locke's idea to do this. I'm a bit surprised he's not taking some of this money for himself, but he says that he wants to inspire as many young 'treasure hunters' as he can with this."

Terra laughed. "That sounds like him. Always coming up with an excuse to hide his feelings. I think you're the only one who never let him get away with it, Celes. I think that's why he adores you."

Celes shook her head. "Sometimes, I think he sees you as the one that got away, and he's settling for me."

"Really?" Terra looked genuinely confused. "He's always extremely polite with me."

"You don't get to hear Setzer gossiping on about everything around him, including what Locke supposedly says when they're at his private table. There's apparently some sort of elaborate fantasy or something."

Terra made a face. "That's going to change how I see him. Sounds like you're doing well, though. I hear about the traveling casino with the angel-voiced singer every so often."

Celes laughed. "They don't care about me singing when there's gold to be won or lost, but thank you for the compliment." She stepped over to the counter to refill their glasses. "You're the one doing great things now - Terra's Kids seems to have an orphanage in every city we stop off in. Everyone loves Mama Terra."

Terra looked away from Celes and fidgeted with her hands. "Not everyone," she said quietly.

When Celes handed her the glass, Terra was smiling again. "Do you love him?" she asked, only squeaking a little to betray how worried she was about the question.

Celes sighed. "I...don't know. At times, he seems really genuine and interested in me, and then at other times, he's really far away. I don't know whether I'm staying because I love him or because I'm afraid of what I'll do if I'm alone again."

Terra's face seemed to be warring between heartbreak and solidarity. "I...thought that you had found love at last, and I was happy that you had found it, even if I wasn't sure I ever would." Terra smiled, a little too broad for completely genuine. "If you were happy, I could be happy with you."

Celes looked down at her drink. "I...did find love, Terra. A long time ago."

Terra nearly bounced out of her chair, eyes wide. "Who's the lucky one? Is he still here? Have you found him?"

Celes laughed harshly, surprising Terra. "Do you remember what they called me in the Empire's army, Terra? The Ice Queen wasn't just because of my attitude. It's because there wasn't any man in that army that I was interested in."

"You were young, then! You had plenty of--"

"--it was you, Terra."

Terra fell back into her chair, barely remembering to hold on to the drink in her hand. Her mouth attempted to form words, questions, anything, but her voice was gone, as if she had been Silenced.

"You, Terra. As soon as I saw you, I fell in love with you. But I couldn't say anything, because I was an officer and you were Gestahl's daughter. And then..."

"Then the Crown came," Terra said. "And you would have had every opportunity to take advantage of me, if you wanted to."

"By the Warring Trio, no!" Celes nearly screamed. "I wanted to take you and run from all of it! But I...couldn't."

Celes buried her face in her hands and shuddered for a moment before continuing. "He never took it off. I couldn't convince him, I couldn't find the counterspell, I couldn't get Gestahl to see reason. The only thing I could do was _protect_ you as much as I could." Celes looked at Terra, tears in her eyes. "When you asked me about love, I worried you were remembering. I hoped you would never remember, because then you would know how badly I failed you."

Terra smiled and took Celes's hands in her own before hugging her tightly.

" _I remember_ ," she said, and kissed Celes deeply.

Celes remembered fragments of what happened after that - the warm taste and feel of Terra's lips, a stray thought that fashionable clothes are really hard to get someone out of, Terra giving directions, and receiving directions, both of them laughing about how magic would have made all of this so much easier, and a very pleasant haze punctuated by what felt like lightning bolts.

"You were always kind to me," Terra said afterward, playing with Celes's hair as they laid together. "I couldn't disobey Kefka, but that was it. So every time he didn't explicitly tell me to forget or what to feel about it, I remembered and I felt."

"So you heard everything I said," Celes replied, trying to hide the blush by burying her face in Terra's stomach.

"Probably," Terra said, smiling. "There are some gaps, likely where you told me to forget what we had talked about. I do remember that you like green hair, though, and that you seemed mortified when I changed it from blonde after you told me to."

Celes groaned and tried to bury her head even further in. 

"It's a little harder to do now," Terra said, laughing. "I had to test a lot of different ways before I got the right shade, but there's a plant that I grow in the gardens that makes a very nice hair dye. I thought that keeping my hair green would be a safe way of telling you how I felt, especially after you and Locke stayed close to each other after everything we went through."

"Oh, no, Locke!" Celes sat upright. "What's he going to think?"

"From what you just told me," Terra said, with a thoughtful look on her face, "he's probably going to think his dreams are coming true."

Celes stared at Terra in shock for a moment before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

"Do you love him, Celes?" Terra asked gently.

"Not like I love you. He's dear, and he's stayed with me, and I don't want to give him up, and I guess I do love him," Celes said.

"Then it's settled. I think Locke is handsome enough, and he's shown interest in me, and there's a big scary world out there for Locke to pretend he's protecting us from."

"I don't want to lie to him, or hide you," Celes declared. "I've had enough cowardice to last a lifetime."

"Oh, no," Terra said, smiling at Celes. "We'll tell Locke the truth, and we'll be a couple out in the world. I wouldn't be pretending to like him. I think it just might be...safer for us if we're seen as his girlfriends. Which we would be."

Celes looked up at Terra again. "You're not the innocent Esper girl I remember," she said.

"I know," Terra said softly, "but what we went through would destroy anyone's innocence. I'm just glad we can be together." She gathered Celes back into her arms.

Celes opened her mouth to reply, but an audible rumble from her stomach precluded any further conversation.

"I heard that the food here is better than anywhere else in the world," Terra said as she started to reassemble her wardrobe. "You're going to have to point out the best things for me."

Celes slid out of bed and caught Terra with a passionate kiss of her own that left them both smiling for a little while afterward.

"I will," Celes said playfully, and started to get dressed herself.


End file.
